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This wonderful lady was born to Alma and Richard Hanna, Dec 5th, 1929 on the kitchen table of their home in Detroit. She was the youngest of nine children and the last of them to leave. They were: Ella, Carson, Florence, Franklin, Richard, Alma, George, Lillian and of course, Mamie Doloris. That is right her first name was Mamie! She hated that name and always went by Delores or Dee to all she met. Her husband Harold, known as Sonny or Mac to many of you, called her "Peaches".

When she was 5 years old, she was the flower girl at her sister Ella's wedding. She's remembered going by train to Texas to see them later and thought it to be a terrible hot and buggy place. She didn't travel out of state again until her honeymoon to Niagara Falls. Toronto and the Kentucky Derby were her next big trips. She later, often enjoyed Las Vegas and was thrilled if she hit on a penny machine.

Dee loved to watch baseball and would hang on the fence to see Harold play when she was just 9 years old. He had a bicycle and she would beg him for a ride. Let's face it, he never had a chance! ...As a teen she loved to dance and would walk with her friend Juney to the Bob-lo Boat; dance in route and run to the pavilion that featured bands so that she could dance some more. Her favorite singers included Bobby Darin who's song "Mack the Knife" could always get her dancing; then came Tony Bennett, she said of him "He's so ugly, but boy can he sing!" and Dean Martin, whose TV show was never missed.

At 15 years old, her sisters Ella and Lillian talked her mother into sending her to the Beauty School that her mother owned. When she completed the training, they gave the shop over to her and her good friend, Connie, to manage. They were young and afraid and the shop didn't last long in their hands. She then worked at various beauty shops until after she married. The training gave her a profession she would use for many years, including having her own private shop in her home while the children were growing up. She thought everyone should have short hair.

When she was 21, she married Harold at St. Vincent's in Detroit, wearing a simple Pink Suit that she loved. While they were on route to Niagara Falls, we almost lost them due to unmarked construction on a cliff-side. If that near death experience wasn't enough, the hotel that they decided at the last minute, not to stay at, burnt down that very night. Their song was "Too Young" .

They lived in Detroit with Harold's mother until they purchased their first home in Inkster, where she painted her kitchen Pink her favorite color; later they bought a home in Farmington Hills. When things got hard to manage they went to a condo in Chesterfield until ultimately, they decided to make things even easier by residing at American House, Grand Blanc, where Harold is currently staying.

Together she and Harold had four children, Kathleen, Robert, Raymond and Jim. Today they have 11 grandchildren and 12 great grand children with one more due very soon.

Delores was brought up in a Methodist religious home and converted to Catholicism after her marriage. She believed that you should treat others right and that honesty was best, so always said what she thought. You didn't want to ask her if she liked your newest outfit as you got an honest answer! She would say "Well, somebody should tell them! They wouldn't ask if they didn't want to know."

Although she swore that things " would make a preacher swear", she was always there for her family and others throughout her life. She was a caretaker to her mother and brother for long periods.

She took much joy in the Holidays. Dressing up as a clown at Halloween and putting up her silver Christmas tree with the Color Changing Light were her favorites. She loved to play games and puzzles with her grandchildren and shared her knowledge of knitting and crochet crafts with them. She made the best homemade bread and pies. You knew by the number of times she would touch the tip of her tongue to her top lip if she liked her deserts, and she loved sweets! Her tastes were simple and practical which led her to "garage sales" where she would find "thing-a-ma-jigs" that brought her happiness.

She was a survivor! She had many brushes with death in her life, suffering uterine tumors, a tumor on the brain, a broken neck, a heart attack and advanced dementia. Never complaining, she accepted her fate as what was planned for her.

To those of us left grieving she would emphatically say "Tell em' to Don't!". She told the family she was ready to go. May the happiness she gave to others, return to her a hundred fold in peace. She will be missed.

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